"Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite."
-Andy Grove
"You are what your record says you are."
- Bill Parcels
Sharing our Expertise
Feldsteinco is a knowledge-based company with deeply specialized and unique expertise in the management and maximization of in-bound fund-raising revenue. We are committed to sharing our expertise and knowledge, including about the “how.”
One of the worst pieces of advice I ever received is “Don’t give away too much." Before going into the fund-raising business I love, I thought I wanted to be a professor. Being a teacher is part of my DNA—so long as I am telling people things they don’t already know and need to know. No boiler-plate. No BS. Nothing extraneous.
Another reason I have never worried about giving away too much is that prospective clients deserve in advance to have a sense of the depth, quality of analysis, authenticity and simplicity of the advice, information and guidance they are going to get. I want to collaborate with clients that consider themselves “Learning Organizations.”
LinkedIn is a great medium for sharing knowledge and expertise. Below you will find a number of my posts from LinkedIn, along with other fund-raising advisories related to the only thing that counts—the management and maximization of in-bound revenue.
THE CONNECTION PARADOX
Philanthropic donors and retail, restaurant, hotel customers etc. have never been more fickle and demanding, and at the same time more eager for very meaningful connection, relationships and engagement. There is widespread relationship damage and churn taking place; relationships built up and tended over the years with significant acquisition cost are being wasted.
Whatever your industry, your relationships are your most valuable asset and job # 1 to be done is to strengthen them even further. Giving and buying habits are changing rapidly at precisely the time when your institution needs to remain their habit. I am on a mission to help institutions see the potential in each of their key relationships and take full advantage of this connective power. Expert help is needed urgently in developing conversations and engagement with your key constituents because loyalties are shifting very fast. You can’t afford to appear to be transactional. A relationship is a terrible thing to waste.
LinkedIn 05/03/2023
THE CONNECTION PARADOX
Philanthropic donors and retail, restaurant, hotel customers etc. have never been more fickle and demanding, and at the same time more eager for very meaningful connection, relationships and engagement. There is widespread relationship damage and churn taking place; relationships built up and tended over the years with significant acquisition cost are being wasted.
Whatever your industry, your relationships are your most valuable asset and job # 1 to be done is to strengthen them even further. Giving and buying habits are changing rapidly at precisely the time when your institution needs to remain their habit. I am on a mission to help institutions see the potential in each of their key relationships and take full advantage of this connective power. Expert help is needed urgently in developing conversations and engagement with your key constituents because loyalties are shifting very fast. You can’t afford to appear to be transactional. A relationship is a terrible thing to waste.
LinkedIn May 2023
20% TIME
As complex systems are breaking down all around us while the world is becoming even more complex, it is more essential than ever to focus time and attention creatively on the right things. Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 Principle may be our best guide to how the world works.
LinkedIn April 2023
THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE
As complex systems are breaking down all around us, it is essential to focus on the right things and understand how the world works. Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 Principle may be our best guide.
Starting today, and in the days ahead, I am sharing various 80/20 insights to illustrate how Power Laws are a mindset that will lead to much greater success.
LinkedIn April 2023
THE CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFORMING AND EXPLAINING
I can't imagine Winston Churchill using PowerPoint had it existed in 1940.
We have all encountered discussions of the limitations of PowerPoint. I think PowerPoint is great. Use it all the time. But I use it for informing, not explaining. It is a terrific tool for organizing and conveying information and some times for educating, but not for providing great explanations.
If you want to rally people to a cause, or help them understand the situation they are in, or perceive the right course of action to make progress, you need to offer a motivating and often inspiring explanation. Yes, that explanation often includes information. But it needs a riveting human voice and narrative, and won’t succeed if centered around a series of bullet points.
LinkedIn March 2023
NEIMAN-MARCUS NONSENSE
The kerfuffle last week over comments by the CEO that he is only interested in the top 2% of customers who apparently make up 40% of sales tells me that Neiman-Marcus needs to undertake what Repurchase Marketing (www.repurchasemarketing.com) calls “80/20 Major Customer Audit and Analysis." Last week’s pseudo-controversy in Dallas is manifesting as a public relations problem but is really a matter of business intelligence and actionable customer analytics.
No, repeat no, business should be focused on where it is getting 40% of sales. The useful lens is one that shows you where 80% of sales are coming from. We know from Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 principle that roughly 80% of sales can be expected to come from approximately 20% of customers. ( Maybe for NM 80% is coming from 10%. Pareto Dynamics is an approximation—it’s not Newtonian Physics).
Neiman-Marcus, like all retailers, needs to be focused on those customers producing 80% of sales, and on continuously increasing the dollar value of the 80% threshold and the number of customers in this club.
LinkedIn February 2023
Over the next 30 days I will take up these issues of whole-brain marketing in a series of brief conversations. Hopefully by mid-March we can make some real progress in understanding what is, and is not, going on in building long-term customer relationships.
LinkedIn February 2023
FUND-RAISING EXIGENCIES IN A PUNCTUATED AGE
It is more important than ever to see our work guided by the brilliant insight of Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) that many occurrences in life display a power curve known as the 80/20 Principle. When applied to fund-raising, it tells us that typically 80% of the gifts come from 20% of the donors. While this expected distribution is of course an approximation, it is essential to prioritize the donors whose gifts have the greatest returns. Focus, focus, focus.
Feldsteinco applies specialized business principles to fundraising with unexampled results for clients. In this time of “The Great Resignation” and the workplace challenges of what has come to be known as “Quiet Quitting,” it is more important than ever to increase fund-raising productivity. One of the key ways to maximize productivity is to make certain time is spent in the most impactful areas.
The 80/20 Principle also tells us that 20% of our time spent tends to be responsible for 80% of our results. Think how much more productive we would be and how much more money would be raised if we could change that ratio so that a significantly greater percentage of our time was spent on the work that matters most. By consciously applying the 80/20 Principle every day, and disciplining ourselves, fund-raising results can go up dramatically.
“In any series of elements to be controlled, a selected small fraction, in terms of numbers of elements, always accounts for a large fraction in terms of effect." (Vilfredo Pareto)
LinkedIn November 2022
FUND-RAISING EXIGENCIES IN A PUNCTUATED AGE
Post Labor Day Reflections on Work Productivity and the urgent need for OKRs
I have on several occasions discussed the fact that increasingly major donors have turned off their autopilots. Just because someone has been supporting your institution does not mean you can count on their continued giving. You may be able to inspire them to give more, but you really have to center around the “Why?”
The philanthropic world changed dramatically with the murder of George Floyd and the Pandemic. The evolutionary nature of this change is a geologic moment of Punctuated Equilibrium.
Fund-raising departments have to work smarter and more effectively than ever at the very time it has become harder than ever to get focused work done.
Because of “The Great Resignation,” many fund-raising departments are either understaffed or have recently added a number of new hires. And either way, there is the expectation of continued, significant turnover—more than ever before.
In addition, there is the very significant phenomenon that Gallup just reported: “Quiet Quitters” make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. Quiet Quitting is the idea that “millions of people are not going above and beyond at work and just meeting their job description.” This trend is obviously a huge disappointment and problem because in fund-raising as in most other work it’s usually the last 5% and not the first 95% of effort that determines success.
At www.Feldsteinco.com, we are helping clients succeed in getting the critical work done in spite of these huge workforce challenges in part by utilizing OKRs and the science of aggressive goal setting. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) represent a business management system and process developed by Andy Grove for Intel and then adopted by many other of the world’s leading corporations, Google being the best-known example. OKRs are a godsend for philanthropic fund-raising and in today’s workplace environment, even more valuable than ever. The experienced use of OKRs also has great impact on staff motivation, energy and excitement.
To talk about how we can help you achieve 10X results, in part through the highly strategic use of OKRs, in this period of Punctuated Equilibrium, please be in touch with me directly at JamesF@Feldsteinco.com
LinkedIn September 2022
A TIME FOR EXTRAORDINARY ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR FUND-RAISING
Prior to Memorial Day, I observed in a LinkedIn Post that it looked like we were heading into Economic Winter rather than Summer. While subsequent events over the last 3 weeks support that view, my crystal ball is no better than yours. But I know it is smart to assume the remainder of this year is going to be very dangerous and take steps to protect our institutions and increase their anti-fragility.
I am extremely concerned about the economic situation and the vulnerability of many if not all institutions to significant effects on their fund-raising, coupled of course with further reductions in endowment values. If financial markets continue to deteriorate, the recovery period will not be short.
There are essential things institutions can do to protect themselves and maximize results in this period. Feldsteinco has put together an Emergency Response Action Program that can take immediate effect. If I’m right, the action steps we will help you take are essential. If the economy and financial markets start to stabilize, everything we are recommending must still be done and will build revenues and anti-fragility. It is a win-win proposition in what looks like a lose-lose environment:
- Maximizing CY 2022 annual fund-raising using 80/20 Donor Analytics and OKRs
- Strengthening relationships with Major Donors
- Expanding your Major Donor Network
- Accelerating and maintaining momentum of all current campaigns
- Addressing staff shortages and figuring out how to do more with less
- Coaching / Mentoring fund-raising team
- Budget Endowment
LinkedIn August 2022
APPLYING UNIQUE BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE TO PHILANTHROPIC FUND-RAISING
Let’s hit the ground running tomorrow by committing to achieving very ambitious fund-raising goals for the quarter beginning July 1. Nonprofit institutions will need to aspire to and do whatever it takes to reach their December 31 goals by September 30. This is the Mindset that drives necessary action. If you can achieve this, you can then spend October through December securing gifts that exceed your goal.
· If you are on a calendar year fiscal – work to achieve your fund-raising goal by 9/30
· If you are NOT on a calendar year fiscal – set an interim objective for 12/31 and work to meet it by 9/30
At www.Feldsteinco.com our unique expertise in OKRs and the art and science of goal setting can help you set and achieve the aggressive objectives that will push you forward. Of course it will not be possible to get every gift by 9/30. But if September 30 is your action focus, you will find total 2022 Calendar Year results exceed what you previously thought possible.
Act as if the Calendar Year ends on September 30!
LinkedIn August 2022
FUND-RAISING EXIGENCIES IN A PUNCTUATED AGE
BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE, YOU MUST INSPIRE
Recently, I shared a piece on LinkedIn discussing the fact that increasingly major donors have turned off their autopilots. Just because someone has been supporting you, does not mean you can count on their continued giving. More than ever, people want to be inspired by big ideas to create dramatic change in the belief major problems can be solved. Our problems are now so large that people understandably are not satisfied with contributing to progress at the margin.
The significance of auto-pilots being turned off cannot be over-emphasized. The philanthropic world changed dramatically with the murder of George Floyd and the Pandemic. The evolutionary nature of this change can only be considered a geologic moment of Punctuated Equilibrium. We are now living within this Punctuation where attitudes and actions and needs have changed dramatically.
At Feldsteinco, we are re-orienting the future of fund-raising around helping institutions produce inspiration and monetize strengthened relationships with major donors.
BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE, YOU MUST INSPIRE
In our action-oriented Framework of Why, Why Not?, What, How, and When, the “Why” takes center stage. Inspiration awakens donors to new possibilities. When they are inspired, they are prone to act on their inspiration.
LinkedIn September 2022
SMART TO ASSUME YOUR MAJOR DONORS HAVE DISCONNECTED THEIR AUTO-PILOTS
I am frequently asked how individual philanthropy has changed as a result of the Pandemic. Here is the single most important thing you need to know : many donor Mindsets have changed and people are not necessarily supporting the same institutions at the same level as before. They are in many cases giving more. But donor behavior is now much less predictable because the inertia that drove a great deal of giving in the years before COVID-19 was interrupted by the lockdowns and resulting changes in decision-making psychology. It is more important than ever to give people a very good reason to give. Those institutions that are not very effectively making the case are going to see increasing donor churn.
This Philanthropy Reset is increasingly apparent with the passage of time. The changes in individual donor behavior are by no means complete and there is real uncertainty about how 2022 will unfold. Once questions about the current direction of the economy and financial markets are factored in, the uncertainty becomes even greater. But that is a different discussion. Here is what we can say with certainty about the current philanthropic climate:
1. With inertia interrupted by lockdowns, people started turning off their auto pilots. We are today living our lives in many ways differently than before the Pandemic because we are generally more conscious about how we are spending our time and our money. You have heard the refrain: “now we’re being much more selective and trying to spend time only on things we really want to do and with the people we really want to see.” When people are doing things they did pre-Pandemic, it is usually a result of a conscious decision to stick with them. This increased level of consciousness and re-assertion of control is what it means to have auto-pilots turned off. With hands on the manual controls, people are consciously or unconsciously reassessing most things and taking more control of their lives. Maybe auto-pilots will once again be re-engaged. We cannot know. But it won’t be for a while, and if they are, flight plans and glide paths will look different than they did in the pre-COVID long cycle.
2. With auto-pilots turned off, people are bringing a new level of mindfulness to what they are supporting and at what level. For the charitable institution, this new degree of donor critical thinking can be either a blessing or a curse. My aim here is to alert you to the shift and help make it a blessing by successfully focusing on the need to make the case. In making gifts, donors are doing so for reasons that go way beyond “because they did it last year.” Institutions need to give people a very good reason to give them money and emphasize their points of distinction and impact. If the rising financial tide should continue, it is not going to lift all boats.
3. I have been working a lot recently on what I call “donor centricity.” Donor centricity requires much more than just being focused on your donors and being sure they are hearing from you often. In fact, it’s not about how often they are hearing from you, it’s really all about what they are hearing from you.
Having the auto-pilot turned off and being fully engaged at the controls can be very gratifying. The increase in philanthropy during the Pandemic was fueled by the desire on the part of many people to address great inequities in our society that were amplified by COVID-19, aided by the rising stock market.There was also a strong desire on the part of many people to help museums and other ticket-based institutions that experienced a 100% drop in operating revenue due to the long lockdowns.
4. It is fashionable in some quarters to suggest it has become harder for cultural institutions to raise money in an environment where many philanthropists are focused on investments in increasing equality of opportunity. I do not buy this generalization for two reasons: 1) there have not been across the board drops in giving to the arts and nor are they inevitable , and 2) if the cultural sector decides to diversify their audiences and serve many more poor and middle class people, contributions will go up. As cultural institutions realize that their primary mission is to provide their audience experience to those who are the most underserved, and explain this awakening to their donors, contributions can actually increase dramatically.
5. The need to provide major donors stronger and stronger reasons to give necessitates a much more data-driven approach. Institutions need ambitious objectives that are quantified and measured.
LinkedIn July 2022
APPLYING UNIQUE BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE TO PHILANTHROPIC FUND-RAISING
As discussed previously, I am concerned we have now entered Economic Winter rather than Summer. Here, I elaborate further on several recent posts regarding what fund-raising leaders can do to insure against the dangers that lie ahead.
No matter what happens with the economy between now and year-end, urgent actions need to be taken to maximize gift income and make your fund-raising more anti-fragile. Whether the economy goes North or South from here, the steps we summarized earlier are crucial.
The use of OKRs—Objectives and Key Results—will have dramatic impact in getting essential work done and maximizing money
raised. At www.feldsteinco.com, we have developed great expertise in the use of OKRs to set and achieve ambitious fund-raising goals. In fact, OKR’s go hand-in-hand with the art and science of goal setting, as John Doerr brilliantly shows in his seminal book “Measure What Matters."
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) represent a management action system developed by Andy Grove at Intel and then adopted by many of the world’s leading corporations, Google being the best-known example. OKRs represent a discipline, operating system and mindset that provides enormous value added to philanthropic fund-raising.
The most important thing to do right now is review your fund-raising objectives for the next 6 months and be certain goals are high enough. Once you are satisfied with the “What” (i.e. your Objectives), your focus can shift to the “How” (i.e the Key Results). While you may be tempted to take your 6-month fund-raising objective through December 31 (assuming you have one) and chunk it into two quarterly pieces, I think the better practice is to focus on the one big objective for the next two quarters and first see how much of it you can bring in by September 30.
I always suggest 4-5 different OKR’s for each quarter. The process of establishing OKRs is very exact and particular to each individual institution’s specific challenges in getting the job done. A key is to focus OKRs on the top donors responsible for 80% of your money raised and increasing this Network of donors.
Please contact us at Jamesf@Feldsteinco.com or 312-961-9478 to schedule an introductory discussion concerning how we can help you create an Emergency Action Program and specific OKRs.
-LinkedIn June 2022
THE ESSENTIAL FUND-RAISING MINDSET RIGHT NOW (AND ALWAYS)
My crystal ball is no better than yours, but having worked through many business cycles from the 1981 recession, to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the Great Recession and financial markets disaster of 2008-09, and the COVID-19 lockdowns, I am scared by what I see. And the dangers right now are greater than in these past crises because of today’s structural economic gestalt, and the continuing workplace disruptions of COVID including being understaffed, i.e. the Great Resignation. As we approach the official first day of Summer, here are some initial guideposts for how fund-raising leaders should prepare for what looks instead like Economic Winter and what our Mindset should be:
-Revisit fund-raising goals to be certain they are ambitious. Resist temptation to scale back or defer critical initiatives. At www.Feldsteinco.com we have unrivaled knowledge of the art and science of goal setting.
-Focus on how you are going to achieve your ambitious goals. At www.Feldsteinco.com our Mindset is What, Why, Who, How, When and Why Not?
-Regarding Calendar Year 2022 annual fund-raising, accelerate solicitations and figure out how to motivate increased gifts from the top 20% of your donors. Early renewals are critical. As they say in baseball, “every game you win in June is one more you don’t need in September.” 80/20 donor analytics is a critically valuable tool to avoid leaving money on the table.
-Fund-raising does not take place in a silo but as part of a complex system where results are greatly affected by a number of variables including an institution's Action Logic, Board strength, marketing, public relations, and the external environment. You must be able to address these interdependent issues simultaneously.
LinkedIn June 2022
LinkedIn June 2022
LinkedIn March 2022
Feldsteinco applies specialized business principles to philanthropic fundraising with unexampled results for clients. With our "80/20 Donor Base Audit, Analysis & Initiative" we have developed an innovative new program which helps institutions capture the hidden value in their donor base.
To learn more, please get in touch with me at jamesf@feldsteinco.com or 312-961-9478
LinkedIn February 2022
FUND-RAISING NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2
Warren Bennis summed it up best some years ago: “The key to future competitive advantage will be the organization’s capacity to create the social architecture capable of generating intellectual capital. And leadership is the key to realizing the full potential of intellectual capital.”
“Accelerate your accumulation of intellectual capital of the highest order” is Resolution 2 for 2021.
Believing fundamentally in the need to know how to think strategically and the impact personal development has had on my ability to give our clients what they need, we have a page on our website devoted to intellectual capital (https://lnkd.in/eDCNkNP). One of my personal resolutions for 2021 is to add much more unexampled content to our website for the benefit of all who are interested. #fundraising #donors #nonprofit
LinkedIn December 2020
FUND-RAISING NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1
I thought it would be useful to suggest a few New Year’s Resolutions regarding the management of fund-raising and public relations, which has so far been my primary life’s work. The year 2021 must be a year of action, action, action. So the first resolution concerns the absolute need for information of the highest quality to allow senior fund-raising management and volunteers to prioritize and guide the actions needed.
While the availability of data is greater than ever, in large part due to complex CRM and Donor Management Systems, on many occasions we have all seen raw data being put into the management engine before being refined—like trying to run a gasoline engine on crude oil.
It is critical to be working with refined and well-organized information that creates knowledge. Because of the outpouring of special gifts this year to help fight back against COVID-19, an unprecedentedly large amount of new donor data has been created that now has to be turned into meaningful information.
“Insist on working with actionable information, not raw data” is Resolution Numero Uno for 2021.
Here are some key questions you and your team might ask about your data management and donor analytics:
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Is your donor data system designed and managed with end-users and uses in mind?
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Is raw donor data being refined into information so that behavioral clues and trends are readily apparent?
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Is your donor information sufficiently user-friendly and does it tell actionable stories in a way that raw data cannot, or does it require further translation?
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Is the necessary information being sufficiently utilized and internalized by the appropriate people, both professionals and volunteers?
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Is refined data being used effectively to create the right management metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
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Is your institutional data management governed by a formal directive that spells out what information is critical and why and how it needs to be refined and packaged for its consumers?
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Is your fund-raising information prioritizing, guiding and spurring action?
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Do the consumers of your internal fund-raising reports look forward to receiving them and find them enlightening?
LinkedIn December 2020
